HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Before clinching their first playoff berth
in 11 years, the Dallas Mavericks almost celebrated early.

The Mavericks nearly squandered a 20-point lead but held on for
a 109-97 victory. The win, coupled with San Antonio's victory
over Seattle, enabled the Mavericks to wrap up their first
postseason berth since 1990.

The accomplishment was especially satisfying for Dallas coach
Don Nelson, who missed 21 games earlier in the season while
recovering from prostate cancer treatment.

"How about that?" he exclaimed. "Congratulations, Dallas. We
made the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. We're very
proud of that and it was a long time coming. That was our No. 1
goal at the beginning of the season."

"It's very gratifying," Dallas forward Michael Finley added. "I
think it's also gratifying for coach Nelson because he said he
would turn this team into a playoff team."

In the last decade, the Mavericks have been one of the NBA's
losingest teams but they showed progress last season, finishing
40-42.

"Nobody believed in us at the beginning of the year but we
believed in ourselves," Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "With
Juwan (Howard) coming over in the trade, it has really helped
our team get ready for the playoffs."

Dallas saw its lead cut to seven with just under three minutes
remaining. Walt Williams and Cuttino Mobley hit back-to-back
3-pointers to cap a 13-0 run that pulled Houston within 100-93
with 2:53 remaining.

Nowitzki, who scored 20 points, stopped the spurt with a jumper
with 2:33 left before hitting another that made it 106-95 with
1:19 to play.

Finley scored 27 points and Howard added 23 for the Mavericks,
who completed a grueling five-game road trip at 4-1. They also
beat Utah, Portland and Sacramento on the trip.

"If anyone said we would get 4-of-5 on this trip, I would have
said they were insane, but we did it," Nelson said. "It was one
of the most amazing trips I've been on. We're playing our best
ball of the season right now."

Dallas' next goal will be to try to secure the home-court
advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Mavericks hold
the fifth seed in the Western Conference but are only one-half
game behind the Los Angeles Lakers and one game in back of the
Utah Jazz.

"It's (clinching a playoff spot) anticlimatic," Dallas guard
Steve Nash said. "We knew it was coming and now we want
something better. Last year, it would have been different but
this year, we're shooting for bigger and better things."

The loss moved the Rockets one step closer to elimination.
Houston fell four games behind idle Minnesota in the battle for
the final spot in the West with only seven remaining.

Houston ran into a buzzsaw in the first half as Dallas raced to
a 67-58 lead. The Mavs stretched their lead to 90-72 by holding
the Rockets to only 14 points in the third quarter.

"We were playing one of the hottest teams in the league,"
Tomjanovich said. "We stayed with them for a while but we missed
too many point-blank layups and they hit threes on the other
end. That's the way it goes sometimes."

Dallas shot 51 percent (44-of-86) from the field while holding
the Rockets to just 39.5 percent (34-of-86). The Mavericks also
had a 21-5 edge in fast-break points.

Mobley scored 28 points and Maurice Taylor added 16 for the
Rockets. But guard Steve Francis had one of the worst games of
his two-year career, scoring only five points on 1-of-12
shooting.

The Rockets have dropped six of their last eight to virtually
fall out of playoff contention.

"No excuses," Taylor said. "We fought hard for the last month
and we came together as a team. It's really disappointing the
last few games to see it slip away."